セカンドチャンス (Second Chances)
by NightFall00
Summary: Ryuu was once a person who, like many others, aspired to be an amazing duelist, but mysteriously gave it up. Now, a year later, his old teacher shows up, and tries to convince him to go back to Duel Academia, but will the man who ruined his life being able to convince him to go back to a world that would be fine without him? OC Submissions open (No Canon Characters). Ja na.
1. Return from Nowhere

Hey, readers. NightFall, here, and really, it's been a while since I was on this section of fanfic, hasn't it? I haven't done a story here for at least a year and a half to two years, and while I probably won't be updating TNG any time soon, I would like to get back into Yu-Gi-Oh. I stopped playing about a year and a half ago, and I'm trying to integrate myself back into it, but it's going to be a long process, and I'm not going to be using Xyz monsters. I thought they were taking it too far with Synchro cards, but who am I? Some of you may remember my last Yu-Gi-Oh story, and some of you really liked it, one reader even stating that Japan should've hired me to make it into a real part of the canon, so I have at least some background on this. My story will include real cards this time as opposed to before, and the OC form will be much more refined than it was when I started doing this; hope you enjoy this, and I'll see you guys at the bottom.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH, JUST MY CHARACTERS.**

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Prologue: Return from Nowhere

It's said that in the very beginning there was absolutely nothing; no time, no space, no power, no light, no darkness, and no one person to bring everything into existence. The concept of nothing is something that nobody can fully understand; in nothing, there is no color, no sounds of voices, no feelings of something touching you, no smells, and no tastes, just nothing, and while nobody can understand what happened back then to create all of this, they just know something did. Whether it was an explosion in theoretical space, or a deity that created and designed the world around us, nobody argues that when the world and the universe were finally formed, we were a blessed planet. Blessed with life and knowledge, justice and government, belief and skepticism, and everything about us that makes us human, we became a people that we can be proud of, but what was that original power? The quick truth is…we may never know, but that's half the fun, isn't it? No one denies that power exists, but it all just depends on where you find it, and what you do with it. This is the story of people with power, and what they did with that power. A story of those who found strength in the smallest of forms; the form of a card.

* * *

It wasn't the first time I tried to meet with him; each and every time, though, he would just blow us off, and even if he was half of what most of our ages were, he definitely had that authority, and the attacks dogs to go with it. His answer was always the same, and it seemed like we would never be able to convince him otherwise, but all we knew was, we had to persuade him to come back, back to Duel Academia. A school of advanced dueling techniques, and was globally acclaimed for producing the greatest of all duelists, saviors of the world or otherwise. However, even with our credentials, our stories, and our accomplishments, we were unable to get him to come back, or even hear us out on the subject.

His name was Ryuunosuke Akahoshi, a seventeen year old dropout from Duel Academia extremely early in his first year, known back then as Ryuu to his friends, or what we all considered friends. None of the teachers knew much about Akahoshi, and only knew that he was a kendo student while also being a duelist at the academy, spending more time in the kendo club rather than practicing his dueling. He never dueled publically, and some were skeptical of him being able to duel at all, and that's when the rumors of him only getting in as a result of his father's money began to circulate. Most of us teachers became convinced that it was the reason that he dropped out just before the year entered the second month, and never appeared again on any local dueling circuit.

And if you ask how I know all of this, it's because I was the teacher in charge of the Ra Yellow Dorm that Akahoshi was in that year, but I was demoted to the Slifer Red Dorm as a result of losing the prospect of the Akahoshi family, and the donations that came with his attendance. So there might've been some truth in what people were thinking about him, but I was convinced I could get him to come back to the school, and show people the truth of who he was…evidently, he hasn't been too interested so far if the marks on my rear are any indication, but after waiting for three weeks, days before the new school term would begin, I made my final move.

* * *

It started out like always, me appearing at the front door, but finally it was different; the one day per month that his father would finally be in the house, and there would be no question in my mind that he would be willing to listen to me. Walking inside of the house after meeting with Akahoshi's father, I looked off to the side, listening to the constant swinging of some kind of instrument, most likely my former student with his practice sword. As I sat down from in front of his father, I quickly noticed so many similarities from him and his son, I couldn't help but smile; Izanagi Akahoshi, the man who could fix the life of a student I ruined.

"So, you say you were my son's instructor a year ago?" he asked, even his seated stance remaining strong and intimidating. "Odd, while it may be, I would like to thank you for looking after my son in that time," he said, shuffling back before bowing to me.

"No, please, I didn't really do that much for him," I admitted, something his father was probably already aware of. "But I was hoping you might be able to talk to your son about returning to school this year," I said, the man raising a questioning eyebrow to me as he leaned in forward, his elbow resting on the table we sat at, lifting it off its legs from my side. "H-Heh, right. Well," I started, clearing my throat. "It would appear that it was my fault in the end your son could not pursue his career as a duelist because of me, so I wish to make things right between myself and your family," I explained, the large man in front of me slowly releasing the tension on his arm, the table falling down on his legs at the same speed.

"Hmm," the man said, seated back as he was before, his arms folded across his chest; tensing his muscles in an attempt to frighten me…it was working. "Ryuu!" he suddenly shouted, making me fall over out of a near heart attack. "Get in here!" he shouted, almost like he was angry at his son.

"Geez, old man, learn to take it down a notch or…," a voice began saying as he walked into the room, suddenly turning his eyes to me as I nervously waved, his gaze burning with contempt. "Why is he in this house?" he asked, making me look at Akahoshi, finding that he hadn't change in the slightest since I saw him around a year ago.

* * *

Ryuunosuke was always a strong person, just like his father, not quite to the extent of the latter, though, standing almost four inches below his father, so around five foot seven or eight. While he wasn't as tall as him, he was definitely as strong, his training in kendo always showed in the strong attachments in his body, but compact, so it was hard to notice, but apparent. Both he and his father always kept their hair longer than most, the son not as much, cutting it off at the base of the neck, his father's trailing down to the small of his back, both in a pale green color, wild in its form, almost blinding him if he looked in the wrong direction. His clothing was something that always puzzled me; even as a student in the kendo club back at Duel Academia, he would always wear a pair of faded blue jeans, a pair of brown hiking boots, an indigo t-shirt, and a forest green hooded jacket. He always said it made him work harder to make him that much better than the others.

* * *

"Ryuu, that is no way to treat a guest!" his father yelled. Evidently that was the only way to make him hear, or his son was deaf. "Now, go and make us some tea while we discuss your going back to the dueling academy!" he commanded, Ryuunosuke scoffing as he left the room, and into the kitchen behind the wall. "You'll have to forgive my son's rudeness; he's never had much respect for other people."

"He hasn't changed much since he was my student, I see," I said, both of us sharing a laugh over that much. "Anyway, I do believe that your son has the potential to be an amazing duelist, and that's why I would like to ask that you try to convince him to come and duel against me at our entrance exams. I can arrange everything, and he would just have to show up and do his best."

"Hmm," his father sounded, holding his chin in thought. "Nice…," he began quietly. "Incredible!" he suddenly shouted, launching back against the wall from the sheer force of his voice. "You are truly a man among men, sensei! I bow in respect for what you plan to do for my son!" he said, bashing his nose to the ground, only for the ground to break before his nose did. "I will inform my son of this news immediately!"

"With a voice like that, I could hear you from the island the academy's on," Ryuunosuke said, walking back inside the living area, placing two cups of freshly brewed tea in front of us. "Figures though," he started. "Once a snake, always a snake. You wait until this old man is here to get him to agree to all of this."

"You didn't give me much choice, Akahoshi-kun," I said, taking a small sip from the tea. "You've thrown me out of this house more times than I think your father would care to hear about, so I had to come and just make you listen to what I was going to plan for you."

"Save your breath," he said, walking back towards the kitchen area. "He can only tell me what to do, I don't have to actually do anything," he said, his father instantly standing up, and chasing after him as he ran into the kitchen.

Hearing sounds of crashing from the inside of the kitchen, I leaned over, and saw that the father and son were using a pair of bamboo sword on each other, quicker than I was able to watch, neither of them seeming to let up as it continued, signaling to me that I might want to take my leave, and let them discuss it. Three days, and I would have my answer, though, and maybe I would be able to lift whatever kind of shadow I casted on him.

* * *

It was after I left the house that the two of them finally stopped swinging their swords madly through the house, much of the kitchen in shambles from the mock battle the two just had. Both of them were panting as hard as ever, looking at each other, their arms hanging down like they each weighed a ton, neither of them able to hold the swords anymore. Instead, both of them walked out of the kitchen and sat across from each other at the main living area table, staring at each other as my words were still running through their minds.

"Ryuu," his father started, much calmer than he had been in the last few hours. "You know that this dojo and I would be fine if you decided to leave to become a duelist like you once planned."

"Don't get conceited, old man," Ryuunosuke said. "I'm not declining them out of respect for you, or concern for this place. That place values nothing but the ability to win a game; not the effort, not the time spent into making the perfect deck, but just that you can win. If I can't feel good about a win, it means nothing, and what can I feel good about if my effort is meaningless?"

"The value of our efforts is not something that others can determine," his father said, keeping his arms folded as Ryuunosuke stood up. "Our own value is not the work of some greater force; it's not the idea of what we've done in the eyes of others. Our true value is what we determine for ourselves. Even if you choose to decline their offer, and keep yourself from becoming what you wanted to be not even two years ago, what does that show of your resolve?" he asked, Ryuunosuke gritting his teeth before leaving the room, walking up to the second floor of the building, his father turning around to a small shrine with the picture of a young woman on it.

Clapping his hands together and pulling on the string of a small bell, Izanagi made a small prayer, looking up towards the staircase, and the back at the shrine. _"My wife in heaven, may you always smile down on our son, and let him know he will always be loved by us. No matter his choices, no matter his trials, no matter his failures, may you look down on him with love, and show him the path to be the man I know he wants to be."_

Watching him from the top of the staircase, Ryuunosuke's eyes began to wander back to his room at the very top of the stairwell. It was as though something was pulling him back inside, the door slamming shut when he reached up to his bedroom, the only thing around being a series of different wooden, bamboo, dulled, and one completely sharpened sword along the far side of the wall opposite from the door. Near the end of that long row, though, there was something else, his hands quivering as he reached down, his teeth grinding even harder as his grip trembled while holding it. It wasn't big, it wasn't strong, but it had meaning. Meaning past what he had known all his life, meaning past all that made sense, and that's why it was so much more powerful than he could ever be. That little box with his lost soul.

* * *

The next three days passed by like lightning, and I was already in my place as one of the examiners for the new duelists that would be entering the academy in this next year. My mind wasn't where it was supposed to be, though; it was only focused on him. I lost every one of the duels I examined; some of the other students all praying to be my opponent so that there was less pressure, and before I knew it, the time had passed.

"_Last call for duels!"_ a voice rang out over the intercom, and my heart sank; I hadn't seen him yet. _"All those wishing to duel now must report to an examining booth for your duel or meet at another location."_ Even if we moved, I knew if we were going to be there, then he wouldn't be showing up anywhere. I'd failed him again, and none of the teachers would ever respect me again, but respect was what I wanted the least, I wanted to know I'd done something for a student, like how teachers are supposed to.

"Oi!" a voice suddenly shouted from across the field. "Seriously, if you're gonna start messing up your duels on purpose, what was the point of me even coming out, here?" they asked, making me look up, the other teachers all astounded at what they saw; Ryuunosuke Akahoshi was back, and he was ready, duel disk in hand, deck in position. "Don't get me wrong; I'm only doing this to see if I still can, then we'll see if I come back."

"Then I have no reason to hold back," I said as I held up my own duel disk, activating it as he did his own. "Ready?" I asked, Ryuunosuke simply nodding. "Then, DUEL!" we both shouted, our life points both counting at 4000.

* * *

"I go first, draw!" I said, looking at the cards in my hand. "I summon the monster Dark Blade (1800/1500) in attack mode!" I declared, a black knight-like figure appearing, his face completely hidden in shadow. "Then I activate the magic card Frontline Base! With this card in play, I can special summon one Union monster level four or lower from my hand, and I select Pitch-Dark Dragon (900/600) in attack mode!"

As I slammed my card into the duel disk, a large dragon, completely blackened out and its horns and wings giving it a demonic look, appeared out of the hologram, roaring directly at Ryuunosuke, the student barely flinching.

"And with that I now fuse them together in order to summon Dark Blade the Dragon Knight (2200/1500) in attack mode!" I shouted, Dark Blade jumping onto the back of the second monster I summoned, its attack rising by four hundred. "With that, I place one card face-down and end my turn."

"Looks like fun," Ryuunosuke said, holding out his duel disk, looking at the five cards in his hand, and placing his hand on the soon to be sixth. "My turn, draw!" he shouted, his eyes burning with passion as he looked at his hand. "I summon X-Saber Airbellum (1600/200) to the field in attack mode!" he declared, a wild, humanoid beast appearing out of the card, three claws lining its knuckles as it roared the same way my monster had done just a few minutes ago. "After that, I'll place one card face-down and end my turn. You're up," he said, a small grin on his face as I looked down at the face-down card, knowing it had to have some purpose.

"Fine, then, my turn, draw!" I said, looking down at all of my cards, knowing that I was going to be able to destroy his monster with mine, but the face-down card still worried me. "I'll play one monster in defense mode," I said, a giant version of my card appearing on my field sideways. "And then I'll play the magic card, Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy one spell or trap card on the field!" I declared, a giant wind coming out the card as I held it in my hand.

As the wind became a small funnel, it began to shoot directly forward at Ryuunosuke's card, blasting it into the air, and then forcing it to disintegrate into nearly a thousand pieces, the real card being added to his graveyard, a small scoff coming from his voice.

"And now, I attack your X-Saber Airbellum with Dark Blade the Dragon Knight!" I declared, the dragon my knight was riding on flapping its wings into the air, both of the original monster's swords slashing through the air. "Demonic Dragon Slash!" I shouted as an attack name, as both of the monster's swords clashed with the claws of Ryuunosuke's monster, forcing it back, and destroying it like the last card, this time the counter for his life points decreasing from 4000-3400. "And with that, I end my turn. Show me what you've got."

"With pleasure," Ryuunosuke said, pulling out the next card from his deck, a small smile coming across his face, making me recoil back. "I summon another X-Saber Airbellum from my hand in attack mode!" he declared, the same monster appearing out of the card he played with the same roar. "But now I activate the magic card Enemy Controller!" he shouted, my eyes shooting wide open as he showed off the card. "As I'm sure you know, Enemy Controller gives me the option of change either the battle position of one of your monsters, or I can sacrifice one of my monsters to take control of one of yours," he explained, his monster disappearing from the field, a large game console controller appearing on the field with its wires shooting out and attaching to my Dragon Knight. "Now, attack his face down monster!" he shouted, my monster once again flying into the air, but this time at me. "Demonic Dragon Slash!"

With the name of the attack made against me, I instantly held my arms up in defense, my monster quickly destroyed, but with a smile coming across my face as it was, just as there was on it. Ryuunosuke cringed slightly by the smile on my monster, knowing it as well as any other duelist.

"Cyber Jar, activate!" I shouted, a giant blast coming out of the mechanized jar's opening, instantly destroying itself from the overload and my original Dragon Knight from the beam. "Now each of us is able to pick up five cards from our decks, and summon as many level four or lower monsters from those cards in either face-up attack position, or in face-down defense mode," I explained, both Ryuunosuke and I drawing our five cards. "I summon Dark Blade to the field in attack mode, and two monsters in defense mode," I declared, my black knight once more coming to the field bearing its twin blades.

"I summon XX-Saber Emmersblade (1300/800) to the field in attack mode!" Ryuunosuke said, all the other cards going into his hand as a giant insect monster took the field, its blade being its front two pincers. "To end my turn, I'll place three cards face-down."

"My turn, draw!" I shouted, looking out at the field; one monster with five hundred fewer attack points than my own monster, but with a back-up of three face-down cards. "I activate my face-down card, Spirit Barrier! While this card protects me, as long as I have at least monster on the field, I take zero damage to my life points. And with that, I'll now end my turn."

"Then it's my turn, draw!" Ryuunosuke declared, looking at the card he just drew, and the field in front of him, three face-down cards and one monster, and the exact opposite on my field. "This end's now, sensei," he quietly said. "I'll defeat you on this turn!" he declared, the rest of the students in the stands suddenly murmuring at what he said.

"You can't be serious," I said. "I want you in the school as much as anyone, but even you can't defeat someone with full life points in a single turn with your setup," I said, a toothy grin coming from my opponent.

"Well, that's the thing," Ryuunosuke said. "This school only cares about the win; the method, means, and deck style means nothing to them at all," he said, making me look behind me at the other teachers watching the duel. "I thought my effort was worthless because of that, but I was told something by a very wise man that anything with value is what we decide for ourselves. This deck is more valuable than anything to me right now, and I'll prove it to you right now!"

"Then give it to me!" I shouted in return.

"Gladly! I activate the trap card Gottoms' Emergency Call!" he declared, one of his face-down cards coming out over the field, his graveyard beginning to glow as the card did. "When I control at least one X-Saber monster, I can special summon two of them from my graveyard automatically. So return, my Airbellum cards!" he shouted, both of his beastly monsters coming back to the field, their claws clashing with each other as their greeting, both of them in attack mode. "Next, I activate the magic card Saber Slash! With this card, for every X-Saber monster on the field in attack mode, I can destroy one face-up card on your field," he said, both of his Airbellum monsters quickly jumping into the air, slashing across Dark Blade's body in an X formation, Emmersblade quickly running across the field, slashing the same way both of the earlier monsters did across the giant representation of my Spirit Barrier card.

"Now what? I'm still standing," I said, coaxing Ryuunosuke to give me more.

"Next, since I control at least two X-Saber monsters, I can special summon XX-Saber Faultroll (2400/1800) to the field in attack mode!" he shouted, a knight like figure wearing red armor adorned with light features appeared, its blade seemingly made of energy. "And now I play my last face-down card; Sword of Sparkles, and equip it to Faultroll," he declared, the sword that his monster was originally holding turning into a giant broadsword, glittering in the sunlight as he held it up to both of my monsters. "While an X-Saber monster is holding this mighty blade, if it were to destroy one of your monsters in battle, I can destroy another of your cards in the process!" he declared, my eyes shooting open in an instant. "Faultroll, attack with Glittering Destroyer!" he shouted, his monster rushing into the field, holding up his sword, and slashing down on the first face-down monster, instantly destroying it.

From that first slash, a sudden burst of lightning shot out from the tip of the sword, pointed at the second of my face-down monsters, the electricity surrounding the card as it exploded without even seeing the monster that it took with it.

"And now, your field is completely open!" Ryuunosuke pointed out, all of his monsters beginning to run at me. "Airbellum, Ravaging Claw, and Emmersblade, Swarming Slash!" he commanded, both of his Airbellum monsters wildly slashing in all directions as they made their double assault on me, dropping my life points from 4000-800 in the one strike, but then I looked up to see the giant insect Emmersblade on me, his blades outstretched, each taking a single slash, dropping my life points from 800-0.

As I finally let out a breath, the monsters around me disappearing, I sat up after being knocked down by the sheer force, seeing Ryuunosuke. His eyes were still burning with excitement from the duel that had just taken place, but his expression was stern as he walked away.

"Um…," I started as he turned around to me, waiting for me to say something. "Thank you for the duel, Akahoshi-kun!" I shouted, the other teachers looking at me in shock that I was showing respect to the student. Waiting for an answer, I only heard a small chuckle.

"You don't have to be so formal, sensei," he said as he looked at me with a smile. "My friends call me Ryuu."

With that, my eyes grew wider, as did my smile as I nodded and he walked away. That boy whose life I ruined, found his own way back into the world he loved, and now I could finally look at him as a friend, mentor, and a new man. Even if I did end up leaving the academy, I would always remember the day that I could bring back a smile to a boy's face with a duel.

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Characters:

Ryuunosuke "Ryuu" Akahoshi (X-Saber Deck): NightFall00

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Prologue Complete. Wow, I really didn't know that I still had it in me to write out that duel. Obviously, as this is a prologue, the chapters from here on out will be longer, and for those of you who are new readers, you should know that this is the normal with me. My normal chapter length is a little over ten to eleven thousand, so get ready to read, but with these duels, I think I can obtain that level much quicker than with my pokémon stories. So, as you saw, I use an X-Saber deck, and while it's still in the works, it is one of my favorite archetypes of monsters. As I said in the beginning, the form is on my profile, and I will be giving you all the information you need to know there. Since I'm not sure of how many of my readers currently like Yu-Gi-Oh, it'll be interesting to see who submits. I know many of you have become favorites of my Yu-Gi-Oh GX: TNG story, and I'm sorry about that, but at least it's staying up, much like this story, I'm hoping, and if I can help it, I'd like to make this story my focus for the time being. Sorry to my other readers of HDD and my other stories, but this will be my focus, I'm taking a break from pokémon for a while, so until we meet again, ja na.


	2. First Impressions: For the Second Time

Hey, readers, or however few I have at this rate, NightFall here with the first actual chapter of my new Yu-Gi-Oh story. So far, it would seem that even my readers that don't quite like the Yu-Gi-Oh still have some positive comments for me, and I find that fairly heartening. It helps me to remember that I can still entertain people with my stories, and that's really all I wanted to do with this. Problem was, I just became too much of perfectionist, so hopefully I can break out of it, and accept things at face value while writing. Well, I think you've heard enough of my ranting, and now I'll give you a little reminder of what the last chapter entailed so that you have at least some kind of background in case you forgot. So, basically it was all exposition with meeting my character Ryuunosuke, although I'm just gonna call him Ryuu from now on, since it is such a long name. It showed off his deck, which is an X-Saber Deck, and that's all I pretty much wrote, granted in about 4500 more words. Well, enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH, JUST MY CHARACTERS.**

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Duel I: First Impressions…For the Second Time

How many of the people you call your friends were the people you hated to be around in the beginning of what you might call a friendship? Was it because they were annoying? Were they just rude? Or were they just that kind of person that made you want to rip your eyes out so you didn't have to see them? For some reason, the people that we seem to hate the most in the beginning are the ones that we become friends with the fastest; we're able to talk with them much more easily, and sometimes we may even come to like them more than the people we always looked at as our friends. It's never clear why we become attached to people we usually hate, but with so many things in the world, it's all a matter of understanding things that you might not be able to yet. As we begin to understand some of the ideas behind why we choose certain people as our friends, we begin to find ourselves deep within the bonds of what some may call enlightenment, but really, it's just figuring out the truth. As the story of my student Ryuu began to unfold, so many of our questions began to be answered one by one.

* * *

September tenth, five days after the new students first arrive on the island of Duel Academia, and most of them had already begun to adapt to their surroundings fairly quickly. In the past, there were always stories of segregated classes that determined a person's relative worth to another student, and that was still a very live tradition; Slifer Red students were always treated as they were assigned their rank, at the bottom of the barrel, Ra Yellows were only given trouble by the truly pompous and elitist students, and the Obelisk Blues were only given the utmost respect for their skills, but I knew very well that there was a greater skill in the dorm that I managed from that last year since Ryuu's withdrawal.

Regrettably, I have to admit, I was taken from my post as the Slifer Red's dorm manager, due to my closeness to the issue with Ryuu, so I was placed in a more administrative post; not a bad tradeoff, I'll admit, but I would have liked to spend more time as Ryuu's teacher. I did notice, however, that Ryuu had reverted much to the way that he was when he was first at the academy; stoic around others, and he didn't duel. Most of the first year students had already gotten to the point where they had had at least a few duels with the other students, and yet Ryuu continued to avoid it; nobody doubted his ability since defeating me, but there was something else, going on. Sadly, though, it was no longer my place to worry about the students, and with classes beginning for the students the next day, Ryuu would eventually have no choice but to duel.

As the morning sun began to rise of the horizon of the ocean all around the island, all of the students were of two different minds; either they were more excited for the beginning of today than they had been since they arrived, or they were dreading the very idea that this was, in fact, an actual school; can't say I blame them, but it's not my problem. Ryuu was among the first to exit his room, his red blazer indicating where he was from left unbuttoned and hung beneath his waist, rolling up the sleeves past his elbows. With his deck clipped to his belt like so many of the students, the only thing packed inside his bag was the red-lined duel disk he was issued along with the rest of the students.

Due to the reasons behind his reentry, Ryuu was being treated as a transfer student, which is why he was placed into the Red dorm; sort of a paying your dues system, if you will. Had it been my call, Ryuu deserved to be in the Blue dorm at the very least, but my opinion didn't matter much since I was making this a personal matter, but it seemed that no matter where Ryuu was placed, he wouldn't change his opinion. Of the few students in the dorm, Ryuu was allowed to have a room for himself, given that's how most second year students were treated, but granted, most of them probably weren't part of the Red dorm, anyway.

* * *

After leaving the Red dorm building, Ryuu walked obediently towards the main school building, his hands stuffed into his pockets while the other students couldn't help but turn in his direction at the mere sight of him. Their conversations quickly turned to whispers to keep him from hearing, but something told me that he knew what they were saying. They never said anything hurtful, but most of them were students who could remember him from the last time Ryuu was within the halls. Needless to say, the teachers were all delighted to have his family funds back, but the students' perspective was something that I wasn't too optimistic about.

The door to Ryuu's classroom slid open, the Slifer Red student taking a seat directly next to the door, leaning forward so his elbow rested on the table, and his head in his hand. As other students in his year began to walk in, some of them tried to look at the semi-returnee student, most of the unsure of how to do so without receiving the same glare his father would give him. The idle chatter and conversation that began to grow throughout the room, however, was cut short by another door, down through the rising aisles and at the bottom of the classroom with the teacher walking inside, looking out at all of the faces staring at him, most of them nervous.

He was a big man; that much was for sure, his coal black hair spiked straight up, almost parallel with his square jaw; his large muscular build not helping with the intimidated students. He was known as the hardest teacher in the entire school, and this year, was in charge of the Slifer Red dorm. Ryuu simply shifted his eyes towards him as the teacher did the same. To Ryuu, though, he was nothing compared to his father; a skilled martial artist that can, with my testimony, throw people without touching them.

"Now!" the teacher shouted, all of the students jerking awake. "As you are now aware, I will be your teacher in applied dueling tactics; Seichiro Nakamura! This class is the one that will prove to your fellow students that you have an actual chance at becoming somebody in the world of Duel Monsters! For some of you, this will be your favorite class; being able to duel four days out of the week! And for some of you, who are still unaware of the world you've just entered, this class will be like receiving commands from the devil himself, burning with pain! Any questions!?" he shouted throughout the room; nobody quite sure how to respond.

"Sure," one of the students said, Ryuu's eyes snapping open at the sound of their voice. "Could you say that a little louder? I'm not quite sure the Americas could hear you quite well enough," he said with a large grin on his face, the other students around him laughing at his joke, the teacher simply stomping up the steps along the rising seats to where the student was.

"You have something to say to me, Ryugu!?" the teacher asked, bringing the student's face up to his own. "Then say it!"

"You have beautiful eyes," he said, blinking several times with a loud banging sound coming from the same area, the teacher walking back to the front of the class with the student lying limp in his seat, a large, steaming bump on his head.

"_Why did it have to be him, again?" _Ryuu questioned, looking down at the student as he straightened himself back into his seat, holding the painful bump on the top of his head; Aono Ryugu, a Ra Yellow student in the same year as Ryuu.

* * *

Aono was a person very much like Ryuu, in terms of build and height, standing around the same height as the Slifer Red student, maybe an inch higher or so, but their difference in strength was weighted more in Ryuu's favor, Aono having a much more regular build. His hair was a blond color, mixed in with some shades of brown, reaching down his neck, not quite to the length Ryuu kept his, but had a similar wild, unkempt appearance to it. His eyes were a light blue color, inviting in the way they looked at everything, but as Aono stared at something, it was obvious he was already fixated on it. Underneath his open yellow blazer from his dorm, Aono simply wore a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a pair of black tennis shoes.

* * *

"_Looks like things haven't changed for him, though,"_ Ryuu noticed, looking back down at his former classmate. _"He's still decked out in yellow form last year. Guess you weren't as good as you were always bragging about. Maybe now you'll have a bit of perspective in all of this."_

"For now, I'll be taking a compulsory attendance record," the teacher said, looking at the alphabetical list. "As I call your name, please give me a sign that you are at least with us in some sense. Ryuunosuke Akahoshi!" he shouted; ever voice suddenly exclaiming in surprise as Aono simply stood up in shock.

"Ryuu's here?" he asked as Ryuu held his hand to his face, shaking it as he raised his opposite hand, the teacher looking up at the motion, some of the other students looking the same way.

"Right here," he said, the teacher nodding at him as Aono turned up to the face the top of the class, seeing Ryuu from his perch.

"No way," Aono said, looking up, his eyes completely full of surprise. "I thought it was just a rumor that you were coming back this year. One of those times I'm glad I get things wrong once in a while," he said with his normal smirk, a loud burst of laughter coming from his voice.

"_Once in a while?"_ both Ryuu and their teacher said to themselves in unison, their faces annoyed to no end.

"Seriously, though, is that how you treat an old friend of yours after just leaving after a month, Ryuu?" Aono asked, stepping out of the aisle, and walking up towards where Ryuu was. "Gotta say, though, I think the red color suits you better than yellow did," he said, leaning on Ryuu's shoulder. "You should've told me you were back; obviously I didn't forget you."

"Yeah, that makes two things wrong with this day, so far," Ryuu said, keeping his face turned away from Aono, obviously trying to avoid him. "The first being the sight of your face again, of course," he said, the teacher actually showing a small smile at Ryuu's mutual distaste for Aono.

"Come on, we just gotta get that last guy from our hall last year, and the three Musketeers are back together again," Aono said, looking over at the bag that Ryuu had brought. "Heh, perfect," he said, noticing the shape of the duel disk on the inside of the bag. "Hey, teach! How about instead of talking about your class, me and my old buddy Ryuu, here, show you how it's done freestyle?" he asked, Ryuu simply turning to him, his eyes full of anger, Aono unable to help but take a few steps back.

"Don't say idiotic words without understanding their meanings," Ryuu said, grabbing his bag, swinging it over his shoulder, and leaving the room; the door sliding closed. As the door closed behind him, the rest of the class dumbfounded, Ryuu already knew that Aono was on the other side of the door, leaning against the wall adjacent to the door while gripping the armband of his duel disk. _"Idiots should just keep their words to themselves."_

* * *

It was several hours since the scene in Ryuu's classroom since he returned to his dorm building, lying on his back while facing straight up at the ceiling, his anger from before having barely subsided as he grabbed onto his deck, and began searching through the different cards. As each of the different examples of artwork began to pass in front of his eyes, Ryuu's eyes began to dim in the low lighting of his room, placing the cards back inside their small case. Heaving out another sigh, Ryuu sat up in his bed, and looked towards the door, shaking his head while walking towards it. As he wrenched it open, almost tearing it from its hinges, Ryuu tapped his foot furiously at the sight of Aono at the very front of his door, the Ra Yellow student chuckling nervously as he stared up at the same time as Ryuu.

"You're like a disease," Ryuu said, walking back into his room. "Hard to get rid of, but you feel so much better when it's finally gone. What do you want?"

"I want to apologize," Aono said, Ryuu stopping just before he reached his desk, turning back to him as Aono stayed in the doorway. "A year ago, I would've never suggested we duel because we all knew how you felt about it. For us, it was just a fun game to play, but you always took a more serious approach to it. You considered it like a kind of sport or competition that required all of your energy and research. You didn't duel if it didn't have any meaning for you."

"I'm a martial artist by birthright," Ryuu replied. "I was always taught that a challenge must have meaning in order for it to have the same value you would something that your life depended on, no matter what the subject. Besides, I wasn't going to duel just because somebody told me to; my father told me that if I had reason to rebel against powers, then I was more than justified in his eyes," he said, placing his deck box in front of himself, Aono giving off his usual smirk.

"I see you're still using the same deck as before," he said, looking down at the first card, reading the X-Saber label. "When you dueled in that examination duel, nobody was expecting someone to run X-Saber monsters; they were an outdated archetype with a really simplistic theme to them; get the monster out there, and beating the living daylights out of the opponent."

"In man's attempts to become more secure in their power, they in turn make things more complicated," Ryuu said, looking down at his cards. "The complexity of security and strategy in a deck places too much emphasis on specific cards, and therefore gives you too many dead draws at crucial moments. The X-Sabers are just raw force; they don't have a special gimmick that they all have, they each have a specific element to them that brings out the best in each card I have."

"I guess you're the classic duelist type," Aono said, Ryuu turning back to face him. "Since you left, I realized that there was almost nobody quite like you when it came to your deck. Nobody would keep their decks the same for about a week; they would always find flaws in it, and change it so they weren't there anymore. It's a cycle they continue to go in, and it sometimes just makes me head hurt. But you never changed your deck lineup once, it made me respect your integrity as a duelist."

"When I started dueling when I was ten, my father told me that I would only be allowed to make a single deck," Ryuu explained. "He said that my deck would be my new training instead of the sword, and that when I was finished, I was to get rid of every other card I didn't sue to make the deck. The way of the sword teaches that we need to accept things as they are, and not to change them to give us the advantage. As swordsmen, we are the find that advantage in what we are given, not by what we change."

"Why is your family always so deep?" Aono asked, Ryuu shrugging his shoulders. "Even still, though, if you really don't want to disappoint your father in the time you spent to make that deck, you'll have to duel eventually, and who better to be your opponent than someone you already know, huh?" he asked, leaning in the door as Ryuu just stared at him.

"Get out before I throw you into the ocean," Ryuu said, Aono not wanting to see if he was joking, running from the raised platform leading to his room.

"If you want to duel, I'll be on one of the practice fields out in front of the school after dinner!" he shouted back, hoping that Ryuu could hear, which he could, leaning against the doorway as his former classmate did before.

"Heh, yeah right, like I'm going to agree to that," Ryuu said, about to walk into his room, a sharp burn of pain in his head as he fell to his knees for a second. _"What the heck?"_ he said to himself, standing back up, and entering his room, looking towards his deck box, seeing several of the cards out of their place, and placed all around the desk. _"Probably just the wind,"_ he tried to reassure himself, shuffling the cards back into a neat pile, and placing them back inside their box. _"He can wait out there for all I care,"_ he said, settling into his bed, closing his eyes, the midday sun still high in the sky.

* * *

As his eyes began to drift further and further to sleep, Ryuu began to flinch, jerking his head from side to side with a whisper appearing in his voice. It was like any whisper, but as it continued to speak a nondescript language, Ryuu continued to toss and turn in his bed. Unable to sleep with the voice ringing through his ears, Ryuu eyes shot open, but there was nothing in front of his eyes; he looked to his right, but found there was no floor, not even his bed for that matter.

"What is this?" he asked, looking from side to side, his voice echoing in the never-ending nothingness. "Hey! Where am I!?" he shouted, hoping that somebody might hear him, his voice echoing again, but with another sound mixed in; footsteps. "Who's there?" he asked, turning around to the sound, but found no one.

"This is not a place where you can see things with your eyes," a voice suddenly rang out; unlike any other voice that Ryuu had heard before. "This is a place where only the truly special can enter, and the fact you are even here is worthy of praise, but I do not see the belief in our power in your eyes like I have with others."

"What are you talking about?" Ryuu asked, turning in all directions, trying to find whoever was speaking. "This is obviously just a dream, making me think too hard about what that idiot Aono said, I made this all up."

"If that were the case, you would be able to make me visible," the voice said, Ryuu taking a few steps back, but he may not have even moved at all for all he knew. "The power of a dream is a very potent medium for my voice. I can speak to you in this form, but you still do not believe in what you hear, and therefore require the sight that your humans have taken for granted so many times before," he said, Ryuu slowly looking down at his hands, finding that he could no longer see them. "The gift of being able to see is something that you must not take for granted; for it allows you to know things that even the most advanced form of technology can never."

"What do you want with me?" Ryuu asked, continuing to circle around, trying to get some idea as to where the voice was coming from.

"Ryuunosuke Akahoshi, you were once a boy very much like Aono Ryugu," the voice said, Ryuu taken aback by the disembodied voice knowing his name. "You once looked at dueling as the only source of enjoyment in your life, but slowly you began to lose that ability to feel the joy in such a game. You began to look through the eyes of the adults that turned it into a political ploy, a way of making more money, or even as a way to control the world as so many have tried to do before. But every time they were stopped by extraordinary people like Aono Ryugu; people who could see past their cards, and know there was something more behind them."

"Is there a problem with growing up from childish fantasies?" Ryuu questioned in return.

"Only if you no longer allow yourself to be childish once in a while," the voice said, Ryuu looking around him as a series of giant cards began to surround him; they were his, instantly recognizing his monsters Airbellum, Emmersblade, and Faultroll. "These were once your only friends; your family's wealth and power over the world it lived in kept other away, but these could only be attached to a very specific person. Why did you choose these cards?"

"Why?" Ryuu asked in reply. "Why did I choose these particular cards? I was a novice when I started. I wanted to have cards that nobody else did; a simple style of dueling that I created for myself, not listening to what other people had to say about my cards. They couldn't stop me from dueling the way I wanted to if I actually liked it. The X-Saber monsters were like me; bound to an honor of the blade, but they also fought for themselves. They depended on no one, and only accepted help when it was offered by one of their own."

"As good a reason as any, I supposed," the voice said. "Do you know what kind of cards Aono Ryugu makes use of in his duels?"

"No," Ryuu answered. "I didn't duel at all when I was here the first time around. I simply stayed in the background, and let things happen to me. It was better than fighting; I didn't have to be called a cheater when it came to others, and I wouldn't be seen for my family's money. But those two idiots kept trying to be my friend; always comparing us to famous groups of three, and they always considered me their leader. There was no reason for it; I'd done nothing to show myself an honorable person in the past, so there was no need to make me into that kind of a person."

"Yet those two did," the voice said, Ryuu nodding. "They both saw something in you that you couldn't deny. There was a spark of life in you that would ignite in the middle of a duel, and that created their idea that you were more qualified to lead them than other on that entire island. But it would seem that your spark is all but extinguished."

"I was angry," Ryuu said, looking up into the void, still unable to see anything, only to hear the voice. "When I dueled for the first time in this school at the entrance exams, I was an angry duelist; my father told me I would never be good enough to actually make it anywhere in that world of elite warriors, so I had to prove him wrong. But during my duel, I became so angry that my monsters mirrored my attitude, and the examiner never quite recovered."

"So why did you come back?" the voice asked, Ryuu facing forward into the darkness at his cards as they began to circle around him. "You caused another man so much pain, and yet you chose to come back. A man like you, so driven by logic, and a desire to no longer conform to the rules that man gives you, came back to the place that made you feel like a monster."

"If I had to give you a single reason why I came back, I can't right now," Ryuu said, looking back at his cards. "But if I had to say if it was for anything, it would be these guys. Even after all that time, I didn't once think to get rid of them. They were like memories of what I should never try to do again, and that I shouldn't pretend to be someone I'm not. I was never going to be a great duelist like Aono was, and now I can see that maybe dueling was never going to be the right thing for me. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could still do something right."

"You wished to find a power beyond what you had been taught, and one that you created for yourself," the voice said, suddenly directly behind Ryuu turning around, only seeing the picture of Faultroll on its card art. "This where you find your power to move forward," the voice continued, this time in front of Ryuu, making him turn around to the card showing Airbellum. "And that power will lead you to your ultimate victory; there will be loss and trials, but you will quickly find your place among the greatest in your world." Turning at the last sound of the voice, Ryuu saw his Emmersblade card where the voice was, making him take a few steps back until he was completely encased in the darkness again, holding his head in pain again.

As he opened his eyes, Ryuu found himself back inside his dorm room, looking over at the clock at the far corner of his room, reading fifteen minutes to seven o' clock, the time when the dinner hour would end, and when Aono would be waiting for Ryuu. As the Slifer Red student turned in his bed so he was seated on it, hunched over while facing over to his deck, seeing some of the cards blown out of the case again. Next to the deck on his desk was the duel disk, its red lining staring at Ryuu as he stood up, looking straight down at it.

"You are such an idiot," he said, grabbing the handle of the disk, and his deck, placing both together, and wrapping the disk around his arm. "I guess I am."

* * *

As the bell from the dinner area of the main campus building sounded out, Aono was the first to exit the building, duel disk already on his arm, and his deck already in place, running towards the nearest clearing in the courtyard he could find. As some of the other students watched his excited behavior, many out of them questioned whether Ryuu would actually show up. Evidently, Aono broadcasted his challenge earlier in the dining hall at both the main campus and the rest of the Ra Yellow dorm, tapping his foot excitedly for his duel.

"What happens when he doesn't show, Ryugu?" one of the students asked.

"Then I look like an idiot for the fifth time today!" he shouted back, a large grin on his face as the other couldn't help but laugh, a small group of other students, all Slifer Reds, began to run towards the main building all shouting "He's coming!" "Well, that saves whatever's left of my dignity," Aono said, the others all looking at him, questioning what dignity he had left.

As Ryuu stepped onto the grassy field, duel disk in hand, and deck in duel disk, he stopped just as he stood directly across from Aono, holding up his duel disk to power it on.

"Man of action, not of words, huh?" Aono asked. "Just the way I like it. Let's show these guys what they were missing out on by being friends with you," he said, Ryuu smiling at being called his friend. "Now that's definitely new; thought you didn't like me.

"I guess everyone changes a little over time," Ryuu said, holding out his duel disk to point at Aono. "I'm still not going to be dueling everyday like a certain idiot I know of, but I guess it might be okay to enjoy a duel every now and again. So what do you say, we stop talking, and get this going?" he asked, Aono nodding in agreement. "DUEL!" they both shouted, drawing their first five cards, both of their life point gauges counting at 4000.

"I'll go first," Aono said, drawing his first card. "To start off with, I'm summoning Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (1800/1200) in attack mode!" he declared, placing his card on the empty monster card slot with a white haired woman wearing similarly colored armor lined in gold, and a giant sword appearing on the field.

"A Lightsworn deck?" Ryuu questioned, looking at the card with a confused look in his eyes. _"The Lightsworn archetype is one even older than mine, and it's a risky one; for every turn they remain on the field, certain Lightsworn cards force you to discard cards from the top of your deck. Aono must be a better duelist than I thought if he's using this kind of deck."_

"Next, I'll play a face-down card, and with the end of my turn comes the ability of Jain," Aono said, a giant face-down card appearing behind the female knight. "During each of my end phases, I have to discard two cards from the top of my deck," he said, taking the first two cards that sat on his deck, and placed them in the graveyard slot. "That will end my turn, and now I give you the floor, old friend."

"You're making me sound like a retiree," Ryuu said, drawing his card, and looking at all of the cards he had. "I'll summon one monster in defense mode, and place a face-down card to end my turn," he said, two large cards placed down on the field, one of them facing horizontally. "Your turn, Ryugu," he said, Aono looking at the cards he just placed face down, his eyes becoming completely focused on them as he drew his next card, looking at each of them, and then back at the face-downs.

"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained," Aono said, casting out his hand towards Ryuu. "Jain attacks your face-down monster, and whenever she attacks, her attack points instantly increase by three hundred!" he declared, the white knight's attack increasing from 1800-2100, Ryuu flinching slightly as she began to run up. "Attack, Sword of White Justice!" he shouted out, the knight card simply slashing straight down on the helpless face-down monster, the form of a giant insect quickly taking its place for only a second before it was destroyed. "Emmersblade?" Aono questioned, looking as Ryuu who had a similar smirk on his face as he always did.

"Whenever Emmersblade is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I'm allowed to summon another X-Saber monster level four or lower from my deck!" Ryuu explained, a single card shooting out from his deck into his hand. "And I summon X-Saber Pashuul (100/0) in defense mode!" he declared, a much larger built warrior taking the field with a giant broadsword, fully capable of being a shield at the same time. "As long as Pashuul remains in defense mode, he cannot be destroyed by battle!" he explained, Aono smirking as Jain returned to his side.

"Well, looks like you still remember how to play; it's a good sign this won't be getting too boring," he said as his warrior began to glow, taking two more cards from the top of his deck as per the conditions of her being on the field. "Now, we can have some fun," he said, a sudden burst of light appearing from within his graveyard. "The Lightsworn archetype is based on milling cards from the top of your deck due to their power; it acts as a sort of control for that kind of power, but every once in a while, there's one card that will break that rule. From my graveyard, I summon Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (2100/300)!" he shouted, the card popping out of his graveyard, summoning itself to the field; a large, bipedal, white canine creature holding a long axe-like weapon appearing out of the card, letting out a giant roar. "Wulf is a monster that can only be summoned after it is discarded directly from the deck, and unlike most Lightsworn monsters, I don't have to discard any cards from my deck."

"Still, it's still the end of your turn, and that makes it mine, now," Ryuu said, drawing his next card, looking up at the two monsters on Aono's field. _"Two monsters, both with way more attack than I can muster up with any of my regular monsters. My face-down card could offer me some protection, but after that, I'm a sitting duck. Pashuul will take a large chunk of life points for every turn it remains in defense mode, so I have no choice but to find a way to get it off of the field, but can I replace it with a card that's still strong enough to hold its own against those two?" _he questioned, looking at his newest card. "Guess I have no choice; I switch Pashuul into attack mode, and place another card face-down on the field to end my turn," he said, the warrior on his field slowly rising to his feet, still holding the giant broadsword like a shield.

"Running scared, huh? Guess you were out of the loop for too long," Aono said, drawing his next card. _"He still has two face-down cards, and he's put Pashuul into attack mode, but that was just to keep him from taking the burn of one thousand life points for keeping him in defense mode. Those two face-downs are going to protect him, so there are only two ways of going about this. If they're bluffs I can win this duel on this turn, but if he's actually got something planned, I can attack without worry. Warrior style decks are predictable and straight beat-down decks even more so. Let's just see what you're hiding there."_

"I attack with my Lightsworn Beast to destroy your Pashuul!" he declared, Wulf letting out another deafening howl while running directly at the incredibly weak monster. "Go, Justice Split!" and with that, the giant animal brought his weapon down on Ryuu's monster, a giant explosion following, Ryuu's monster going with the explosion, and his life points dropping from 4000 straight down to 2000, a small cringe noticeable as he fell back. "And now, I attack with Jain, who gains her additional three hundred points in battle to finish you off; attack!"

At the declaration, the female knight jumped into the air, her sword beginning to shine brighter as her attack points raised again from 1800-2100. Cringing again, Ryuu placed his hand on the duel disk, pressing a button on the backside, activating one of his face-down cards.

"Reinforce Truth!" he declared, Aono looking at him impressed, some of the other students looking at the card slightly confused. "With this card, I'm allowed to summon a level two warrior monster from my deck, and I choose another Pashuul in defense mode!" he declared, the burly warrior coming out of the ground, its sword matching Jain's own in strength, the battle instantly ending with no result.

"Interesting; so why wait until I attack with Jain?" Aono asked. "You should've activated it when I attacked with Wulf earlier."

"There'd have been no point; you could still attack the Pashuul in attack mode, and the result would've been the same," Ryuu explained, looking down at his graveyard. "It was my own mistake for placing him in attack mode, and I took a large hit for it. Thankfully I learn from my mistakes."

"We'll see," Aono said. "At the end of my turn, Jain's ability activated again, forcing me to discard the top two cards of my deck," he said, taking the top cards of his deck again, chuckling as he placed only one in the graveyard slot, making the others watching suspicious of his actions. "Evidently, lady luck is smiling on me today, because when the magic card Lightsworn Sabre is sent from the deck to the graveyard, I can automatically equip it to one of my Lightsworn monsters and increase their attack by seven hundred, and I choose to equip it to Wulf!" he declared, the long staff-like axe the beast warrior held quickly being switched out by a fencing style sabre, its blade glowing as it increased the monsters attack from 2100-2800. "Your move."

"_Better make it count, then,"_ Ryuu said to himself, drawing his card, and looking down at it, seeing only Pashuul on his field, a single face-down spell/trap card, and five cards in his hand. "Let's do it. I activate the magic card Dark Hole!" he shouted out, simply holding up the card with a giant swirling mass of pitch black nothingness. "When this card is activated, all monster cards on the field are automatically destroyed!" he declared, all three of the monsters on the field began to rise into the air, quickly becoming part of the spiral that eventually sucked them completely into the very center of the spiral, Aono looking at Ryuu surprised by the card he used. "Now that I have no monsters on my field and at least two X-Sabers in my graveyard, I can automatically summon my XX-Saber Gardestrike (2100/1400) without a sacrifice!"

As he placed the card in the appropriate slot in the duel disk, out of the picture of the card a large bipedal feline figure, like a tiger, with a large blade running all along its arm and covered in armor, and a red cape jumped out, roaring much like a real tiger would.

"You wanted to see what I could do," Ryuu said to Aono, the Ra Yellow student smirking as he always did. "Well now you got it; Gardestrike, attack him directly with Savage Frenzy!" he declared, the feline warrior letting out another roar as it began to run across the field, jumping into the air with its blade raised high above its head. "Strike him, now!"

With a single slash of the blade straight down, the monster from Ryuu's side scratched directly downward on Aono as he was almost launched back against the wall of the building, his life points dropping from 4000 directly to 1900, Gardestrike jumping back in front of Ryuu.

"I end my turn," Ryuu declared calmly, waiting for Aono to stand back up, which he did almost directly after it became his turn. "So, ready to end this yet. With all your talk, I'd figured you give me more of a challenge."

"You kidding me? I'm still not done studying you completely, yet," Aono said. "A person with absolutely no drive to duel suddenly coming back to a world he thought he no longer belonged in, and on top of that, I was able to know this person that entire time. I always knew there was something up with you, and it's because you're willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make sure you stand a chance of winning against more seasoned duelists."

"I told you that the ways of kendo taught me that I should try to win with what I'm given and not to blame it on the tools I was provided with," Ryuu said, folding his arms, his monster copying him as Aono let out a light chuckle.

"Well, now it's my turn, and now I can activate my face-down card, finally knowing you are serious about this duel," Aono said, pressing the same kind of button to activate his trap card. "I activate the trap card Glorious Illusion! With this card, I can re-summon one of my fallen Lightsworn monsters from the graveyard and equip them with this card, but as it always is these cards, one cannot exist without the other. From my graveyard, I summon Gragonith, Lightsworn Dragon (2000/1600) in attack mode!" he shouted, another blinding light coming from the graveyard section of his duel disk, this time a large white and golden dragon appearing from it, a large horn on its forehead, and armor covering its limbs and wings. "And his special ability affords him with an extra three hundred attack and defense points for every other Lightsworn in my graveyard," he said. "And from Jain's six discarded cards, Gragonith being one of them, I have a total of four Lightsworn monsters in my graveyard, giving him a boost of twelve hundred attack and defense!" he declared, the dragon's attack increasing from 2000-3200.

"_Maybe I should've rethought this whole coming back thing,"_ Ryuu said, noticing the overwhelming power that Ryuu's monster boasted.

"Now, I'll attack your Gardestrike with Gragonith!" Aono shouted, his dragon taking a few flaps into the air, looking down at the feline monster, Ryuu gritting his teeth. "Holy Burning Flames!" he shouted, a mixture of white and red flames coming Gragonith as Gardestrike became completely engulfed in the flames, placing its arms up in defense, trying to fend off the attack, but to no avail, eventually becoming overcome by the fire, burning to cinders as the rest of the attack blasted again Ryuu, sending him back a few inches, depleting his life points from 2000-900, a large grimace appearing on his face.

"Is that all?" Ryuu asked, Aono smirking as a sign to show he was more than wrong.

"Each turn that I have Gragonith out, I have to discard another three cards from the top of my deck," he said, the increase in number making it incredibly difficult for Ryuu to stay calm. "And with another of my Lightsworn monsters going to the graveyard, Gragonith's attack increases again to 3500. Maybe I should've gone easier on you; you still gotta get back your dueling legs, so to speak. I guess it was too much for you, huh?"

"Don't mock me, idiot," Ryuu said, Aono keeping his grin even after the insult. "My turn, draw!" he said, looking at his hand, nodding as he looked at the monsters in it. "First, I summon the XX-Saber Boggart Knight (1800/1000) to the field in attack mode!" he declared, a fiendish looking warrior, his helmet adorned with horns in all directions, and the same red cape most of Ryuu's monster wore, appearing while holding out his long, bony fingers. "And with his summon, I am allowed to summon another X-Saber monster from my hand, and I choose XX-Saber Ragigura (200/1000) in attack mode, as well!" he continued, a smaller reptilian creature appearing, wielding two short blades with a star shaped point at the end. "And now, his ability allows me to bring back one X-Saber monster from my graveyard, and into my hand," he said, taking back his Emmersblade into his hand.

"Sorry, but I'm not seeing how this is all supposed to be beating me, or keeping you from becoming barbecue," Aono noticed, Ryuu looking at him expectantly. "Right."

"I now activate the trap card Gottoms' Emergency Call!" Ryuu declared, the other students beginning to see the combo that Ryuu was going for, Aono seeing it more clearly as he sat back, unable to stop any part of it. "With this card, I can bring back two of my X-Saber monsters if I already have at least one X-Saber on the field. And with that effect, I summon both my Pashuul and Gardestrike back to the field in attack mode!" he declared, the warrior with the giant sword, and the tiger warrior both taking the field for a second time.

"Alright, Ryuu, show me what you got!" Aono shouted out.

"You asked for it!" Ryuu yelled back. "With my level two tuner, Pashuul, on the field, I Synch him to both my level one Ragigura and my level four Boggart Knight in order to summon a level seven Synchro monster. I now Synchro summon X-Saber Souza (2500/1600) in attack mode!" he declared, Pashuul's sword beginning to shine with two distinct lights on the face of the blade as both of the other two creatures began to light up in the same lights but only one for Ragigura, and four for Boggart Knight.

As the three monsters began to merge, the shining lights that came from their bodies began to line up into a single row, consisting of seven different stars. As the three monsters began to disappear into a mass of glittering lights, another figure began to appear amongst the mass, and began to take form into a large male figure, the red cloak all of Ryuu's monsters wore in tatters, and two separate broadswords in his hand with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Now I activate Souza's effect!" Ryuu declared, Gardestrike beginning to disappear into the same kind of energy that the other three monsters had, surrounding both swords that Souza carried. "By sacrificing one X-Saber monster, I can grant one of two effects to Souza; either an immunity to traps, or my personal favorite, the ability to destroy any monster when it battles with it. Souza, attack with Crossroad Cross Blade!" he commanded, the wild knight running straight at the entirely too powerful monster Aono had summoned.

In retaliation, the dragon on Aono's field released its uniform red and white blaze, the stream of fire almost hitting Souza, the knight, instead, throwing both of his swords at the fire. As the swords connected, the attack instantly stopped, Souza jumping into the air, both of his swords back in hand, slashing straight down on the dragon, Gragonith instantly freezing in place as it exploded into a million shards of what it once was, Souza landing on the ground on his feet next to Ryuu, Aono's life points still remaining at 1900.

"You may have destroyed my dragon, but Souza's ability makes it so that no damage calculation can take place after it's destroyed a monster with it," Aono reminded, Ryuu looking at him with a cocked eyebrow. "Don't tell me," he said, barely able to contain his laughter.

"Like I said, earlier," Ryuu said. "In making things too complex, we can no longer control how things are done naturally, and nobody can deny that I'm no fool for having this card," he said, turning it around in his fingers. "I activate the magic card Monster Reborn!" he shouted, Aono bursting out laughing as the fiendish knight from before began to rise out of the ground as if actually from a real graveyard. "Boggart Knight, finish this with Phantom Cutlass!" he commanded, the monster sneering as he drew a long curved blade from his side, holding straight out at Aono, who held out his arms, accepting the attack graciously.

It was no more than a second; in that time, Boggart Knight had disappeared, and already slashed right through Aono's abdomen, making the Ra student hold onto his stomach in simulated pain, his life points dropping from their final 1900 until they finally reached the final amount of 0. With all of the remaining monsters disappearing, Aono rose back up to his feet, the student watching barely able to tell what had just happened as Ryuu walked over to his old classmate. After seeing this, Aono looking back over to him, the two of them looking at each other eye to eye, Ryuu holding out his hand, almost as though he were about to hit him. Instead, both clasped each other's hand, with a firm shake as a sign of respect.

"I take it you enjoyed that, then?" Aono asked, Ryuu shrugging his shoulders as he looked out at the other students watching them. "I remember when you first came here, and you didn't even want to duel in your own room because you weren't sure how people would react to you using, as you put it, an antiquated deck style. Something tells me, you don't have to wonder anymore," he said, the other students beginning to clap at the duel they just witnessed. "I get the feeling you won't have too much trouble fitting in around here this time around."

"Maybe so," Ryuu said, waving out to the spectators as Aono did the same. "Hey, Aono," he started, the Ra student turning around to face the Slifer. "Was there any specific reason you challenged me like that, in front of everyone?"

"Truth be told, I couldn't tell you, for sure," he answered. "Somehow, the mood just struck me," he said, Ryuu nodding in understanding, about to leave. "Although," he started, Ryuu turning back around. "I did have this crazy dream last night where I saw myself dueling, but I couldn't see anything else. It was like I was dueling against a completely wall of shadows, and this weird whispering voice came out, and said, 'When the opponent you seek comes near, you will have no choice but to challenge him. It is your destiny to fight him.' Pretty weird, huh?"

"Yeah…," Ryuu answered unconvincingly. "Weird…"

* * *

Back in the Slifer Red dorm, Ryuu was practically asleep, lying on his bed facing towards the ceiling, and then towards his deck on the desk directly adjacent to him. Heaving out a sigh, Ryuu launched himself off of his bed, kicking upwards, and stepping towards his deck, taking the cards out of the carrying case, looking at each individual card, thinking back to his dream where the voice almost seemed to come from every direction of his cards.

"This is stupid," he said, placing his cards back inside the case, and placing them on the desk again. "I can believe in an all-powerful force, but the idea of cards being infused with the spirits of the monsters they show? Can you get anymore idiotic?" he asked, sitting back in his desk chair, placing his feet up unto the face of the desk. _"It just can't be true, right?"_ he asked, hearing a knocking at his door, making him face it with an annoyed groan coming out.

After gripping onto the door handle, Ryuu wrenched it open, seeing Aono's face directly in front of his with a wide smile from cheek to cheek.

"Hey buddy how' it-!" he began to say, but was cut off by the door slamming in his face as he tried to walk inside the room. "That hurt my face…"

"Not my problem," Ryuu said, leaning against the door to make sure there was no way of Aono getting inside. "What do you want now, idiot?"

"Oh, come on," Aono said desperately. "My dorm's a madhouse right now; I gotta have somewhere where I can crash when I have to deal with everyone else from the Yellow dorm."

"Interesting story, abrupt ending," Ryuu said. "My full review to come after you get out of the Slifer Dorm. Besides, wouldn't a madhouse be the perfect place for an idiot like you?"

"Not when we still gotta find our third member," Aono said, Ryuu groaning out of exasperation. "Come on, we both know he's still here, and you two were practically inseparable last year."

"Why do you think I called him a leech?" Ryuu questioned. "At any rate, why do you need my help? I've only been here for a few days at the most; you've got an entire year under your belt, so you should be able to find Kirito. Although, when you start having problems finding somebody, maybe you should just call in the National Guard."

"Yeah, right," Aono replied. "Look, we've finally got you back here, nothing's gonna separate the three of us again unless it's something incredibly apocalyptic."

"_Oh, please let that day be soon,"_ Ryuu said to himself, smiling as he kept the thought that Aono was still right outside the door; they were friends again, and even if Ryuu would deny it, it was knowledge that he knew, and so did everyone else. _"Although, these kinds of days might not that bad to keep around."_

* * *

Characters:

Ryuu Akahoshi (X-Saber Deck): NightFall00

Aono Ryugu (Lightsworn Deck): Jexo

* * *

Chapter one complete. Man, do I feel good right now. It's been a while since I could bust out a chapter that soon after writing out the prologue, do don't be expecting this every single time. This time around, we see a character from one of my best friends on this website, Jexo, in the form of Aono Ryugu. Those not familiar with Jexo's characters, at least in my stories; they tend to be very upbeat people, normally to contrast from my darker tone, serious characters. But, you can't deny that they do have power behind them, and I've never considered making a Lightsworn deck; way to risky for my taste, so I applaud him for that bravery. Also mentioned was the character by another reader of mine JJun named Kirito, but there'll be more on him later. I still need some OCs, so if you're reading this for the first time, and you like what you see so far, send me a message, and let me know you're interested, my male spots are full right now, assuming that I get confirmation from another author, but I still have four female spots open, so by all means, have at it. Thanks for reading this chapter, leave a review, and until we meet again, ja na.


	3. Uncharted Territory

Hey, everyone, so I'm back with the next chapter of my new Yu-Gi-Oh story, and with luck I can really make something out of this. So far, it looks like I've been satisfying most of you with my duels, and in reality, it's a lot of an easier subject than pokémon battles. Because a lot of the stories for Pokémon are based on the anime, there's a lot of ambiguity in how things work with their battle properties, but with Dueling, it's systematic. I don't have to come up with elaborate battle plans for how and when things will end when I have a set number I have to work with. So, I am going to be making this my primary focus, and I'd like to get at least five chapters up before Thanksgiving weekend. For those of you not in the USA, it's the fourth Thursday in November, so I think it's the 28th this year. I'll be trying to get some writing done during that weekend, but I'd like to have a bit of a chapter buffer before, that way people know I'm serious.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH, JUST MY CHARACTERS.**

* * *

Duel II: Uncharted Territory

The fear of the unknown is the only kind of fear that really makes sense in the world we live in. In a time where almost anything can be described by science, analyzed by logic, and defeated by our own strength, is there really anything we need to be afraid of? Short answer is yes. The fact that people are still afraid of things like heights, lightning, and things that can easily be overcome shows how imperfect and illogical the human race is. Never one are people taught that fear is nothing that people can't overcome, and many times we have to see other people facing their own fears to do so, but in reality, that's never the true case of bravery. People sometimes think of bravery as having no fear or being able to face your fears head-on without showing off that fear, but never has this been the real meaning of courage that people seek in others. The bravery that people should seek is merely admittance; admittance that you are afraid, and that the fear is still alive and well within you. It's different from pretending you're not afraid, because that fear will always remain inside you, but by admitting to it, it can become your ally.

* * *

The story of the Three Musketeers has always been a favorite at Duel Academia; we have a first edition copy on display in the library, and it would always seem that every single year, as time goes by, I've always seen at least one group of three distinct students. In many ways, they were all different, just as the original group of warriors in France was, but in that difference, they were able to find how they could merge into an unstoppable force, no matter how different they were. The names of the Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis were all as equally different in their strengths as they were unlikely companions. It was said that the leader, Athos, was the wisest among them all, Porthos was the warrior who possessed the most strength and destructive force, and that the charming, charismatic Aramis was among the most skilled in swordplay. Last year at Duel Academia, all of the teachers were sure that our newest band of Musketeers were three young men in the Ra Yellow dorm, but as time went on, we found that they sadly grew apart, one of them having left the island altogether; nudge-nudge, wink-wink. But when I brought Ryuu back, it was the re-gathering of that legendary trio, and Aono was the first step.

* * *

As his eyes twitched angrily, Ryuu looked to his side, letting out a slow, exasperated sigh as Aono walked directly next to him, a wide smile on the latter's face as they walked towards the main building. As Aono patted his friend on the back, he quickly felt a sharp burn of pain on his wrist as Ryuu continued to rotate it end over end to give him a very clear message, not even looking at him as he did so.

"Okay, okay! I give!" Aono shouted, Ryuu releasing his hand, and walking back ahead of him. "Seriously, man, it's like you let loose for a little bit and you were halfway decent to be around, but now you're as tense as a flunky on test day. So, where do you think Kirito is, right now?" he asked, Ryuu not giving an answer. "From what I heard, he became this big shot in the Obelisk Blue dorm, so I guess it was true when they said the good die young."

"Are you still sore at Obelisk students?" Ryuu asked. "You were exactly the same last year. Besides, if that parasite is in there, they're probably trying just as hard as I was to get rid of him," he said, keeping his hands inside of his pockets. "Said the one who once used a shock collar to keep him away," he said with a slightly devilish smile on his face.

"I think you and I enjoyed that a bit too much," Aono said as Ryuu shared in his amusement, somewhat. "I still have the pictures, and even a little bit of the video feed if you ever get too uptight," he said, Ryuu keeping his sinister grin as they walked inside of the building. "Although, I doubt if he'd even remember you from all the way last year. You know that guy; he's got the attention span of a tick, and he's way to trusting. You could tell that guy to jump off a cliff and he'd do it."

"I should've tried that one," Ryuu said, seriously considering the idea, Aono looking at him slightly worried. "But knowing him, he'd find a way to come back; broken bones or not. I swear, that guy just didn't know how to take no for an answer."

"Granted, everybody called him the heart and soul of our little group," Aono said. "You were the muscle, and I, of course, was the leader of that band of misfits. Although, it's hard to lead a group where there is none," he said, turning his gaze to Ryuu.

"Don't try to make me feel guilty for what I did," Ryuu replied. "I had more than enough good reasons for leaving this place before, and where I am right now suits me better than where I was last year. At least in the Red dorm, they don't put as much pressure on you to succeed. They just figure you're not going to very far so they tend to leave you alone. Just the way I like it."

"You are incredibly depressing, do you know that?" Aono said as the two entered their classroom, looking down towards the center of the class, seeing their teacher, neither of them looking too pleased by the expression on his face. "Who knew my presence was so powerful?"

"Oh, please," Ryuu said. "The last time I saw that guy smile was when he was bashing on you. Have to admit, I may have smiled at that a little bit as well," he said with an evil grin as he looked down at the teacher, watching the two of them sit down, Ryuu in the spot he did the day before, but now with Aono about to sit directly next to him. "Hold up," he said, grabbing Aono by the back of his blazer, the Ra Yellow student instantly freezing with a nervous chuckle. "If I remember correctly, you are down there," he said, pointing at where some of the other students from his dorm were.

"Well, first off, knowing you're here makes me want to sit next to you, of course, and the other reason…," he began, looking over his shoulder, seeing their incredibly powerful teacher tensing up while watching the two of them. "I can get a better head start if need be," he said, motioning for the front of the class.

"Not if you're sitting in the second seat from the end," Ryuu noted. "I enjoy the big guy pounding on you as much as he does, so what makes you think you'd get very far?" he asked, his devilish grin making Aono shake with fear as Ryuu turned back to face the front of the class, far down from the rise of the seating aisles, the teacher beginning to clear his throat.

"Now, as this is the beginning of the school year many people may have seen this coming, but there will be changes in class rosters for the next few days, and one of the students from another class will have to join ours starting today," he said, his voice ringing through the class hall without the use of a microphone or speaker. "I'm sure most of you are familiar with him, he has become a rising star in our school as of late, so please welcome to our classroom, Kirito Yanagisawa!" he said loudly, Ryuu's forehead instantly connecting with the desk as almost every female member of the class let out a loud squeal of delight.

"I don't remember him being that popular last year," Ryuu said, turning his head to face Aono, still connected with the tabletop.

"Goes to show what being an Obelisk Blue means," Aono said as a student about the same age as the other two walked up to the front of the class, a gentle smile on his face as he waved to everyone gleefully. "Had our school not been so superficial about this stuff, Kirito would've been noticed by the girls a lot sooner. Let's face it, out of our group, he's obviously our Aramis; he just doesn't know what to do with a women."

* * *

Kirito was always a student the teacher's took pride in, and not because he had become so popular with other students in the year that Ryuu had left the school. I never got to know Kirito like Ryuu and Aono did, mostly because I was too busy trying to keep my job, but I digress. Kirito stood at about the same height as Aono and Ryuu, Aono being the tallest out of their group, and Kirito being the smallest, but only by a margin of an inch. He was always known for his messy auburn colored hair, the shortest length out of the group, almost reaching to his eyebrows, unruly beyond belief. His eyes were a sky blue color, complementing his pale skin and freckled covered nasal bridge. Aside from the long blue Obelisk coat, left completely buttoned, Kirito wore a pair of black jeans, similarly colored boots, a green band on his left hand, and a silver ring on his right middle finger.

* * *

As the girls continued fawning over the sight of him, Kirito's smile seemed to be ever-present, even matching Aono's grin as he looked around the class, but quickly stopped, looking up at where both Aono and Ryuu were sitting. Without another word, the Obelisk student ran straight up the stairway, the other students watching his path, Aono quickly gripping onto the back of Ryuu's blazer as soon as he tried to run.

"You should've picked your battles more wisely, my friend," Aono said, his voice becoming much more sinister as Ryuu was practically knocked down by Kirito running into him, grasping him in a large hug.

"Ryuu!" he shouted. "I can't believe it's actually you!" he shouted again, holding onto him even tighter, Ryuu trying to push him off, struggling in his grasp, surprised at how powerful his grip was. "I was so lonely this past year without you! Why did you have to leave us behind?" he asked, Ryuu still struggling, eventually pushing his way out, trying to straighten out his jacket.

"If I'm allowed to breathe," Ryuu said, holding Kirito back by pushing him away from his forehead. "I believe the technical phrase is 'none of your business,'" he said, punching him lightly on the forehead, almost every female student suddenly looking at him in spite. "I believe I just made a whole lot of enemies," he said, Aono nodding in agreement.

"I've even missed the way you would hit me like that!" Kirito said, grabbing onto him again, wrapping his arms around Ryuu's neck, the Slifer Red student obviously choking in his tightening grip, which went completely unnoticed by the Obelisk student.

"I can see why you like watching this happen," Aono said, Ryuu constantly trying to get out of Kirito's death grip, flailing madly, pointing at his neck every once in a while. "It _is_ fun."

"Shut up," Ryuu said weakly as he finally managed to pull Kirito's arm away, taking an incredibly deep breath, coughing several times as Kirito looked down at him confused, looking at Aono, the Ra student simply looking the other way to avoid his confusion. "Seriously, did you take a weight training class while I was gone?" he asked Kirito, rubbing his neck in pain as his former classmate continued to look at both of them with a confused look on his face.

As class continued, the teacher would always find him looking at the very top row of the classroom, seeing Ryuu, Aono, and Kirito all seated in a single row, Aono sitting in between the two with a smug grin on his face as he looked back and forth from Kirito with his normal gentle and happy expression, and Ryuu's annoyed appearance, sat with his back hunched over. Looking away, the teacher kept the three in his mind, barely able to think about anything aside from the three of them being back together after almost a year, their reputation last year being incredibly vivid for any of the teachers and students at the time.

* * *

Like I talked about earlier, every year there is an apparent grouping of three students around the school, and the year that all three of them came, it was obvious to everyone else that they would be that trio. Nobody questioned their roles as the legendary figures of literature, and everybody was more than interested in seeing how they would all turn out, but so many things about this school changed the day that Ryuu dropped out without notice. None of the proper channels were taken when he did, so there is still an ever-present mystery as to why he dropped out so early in his time here, but the idea of that year's Musketeer trio suddenly disappearing was almost heartbreaking for the teachers, and extremely disappointing to the students. In that time, Kirito was able to make it into the Obelisk Blue dorm, but people often said he was just trying to impress Ryuu.

The closeness between Ryuu and Kirito is sometimes a very common subject around the school, even if Ryuu hasn't been in the school for close to a year. As we saw before, Kirito is an overly friendly person with Ryuu, and their friendship is very one-sided, but nobody ever tried to deny that one of the reasons Kirito became so much more adept in the coming months was to get Ryuu to think of him differently, but it's hard to impress someone when they're not there.

* * *

Class ended with every eye suddenly turning to the reunited trio, their eyes trying to remember all three of them in the uniform that Aono wore, but instead could only find a deep irony from each of them wearing a uniform from a different dorm. Between the red blazer Ryuu now wore, and the long blue overcoat that Kirito had been issued, the difference between them continued to show off the different personalities of each of the literary characters, but even more so by how differently they acted. With Aono's normal sly look, Kirito's obvious innocence to everything, and Ryuu's moody attitude, the other students couldn't help but see the complementation of the three as Ryuu was the first to stand to leave the classroom; Aono and Kirito directly behind him.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this already?" he asked himself, looking back, seeing Aono's smirk and Kirito's grin as they followed after him. "So remind me how we became friends, again?" he asked, Kirito suddenly tackling him from behind with another hug. "What now!?"

"You actually called me a friend," he said, tears of joy in his eyes as loud clanging sound rang out through the hallways, Ryuu walking away furiously with the other two, Kirito's head steaming from a large bump on top. "We've all really missed you, Ryuu. Can you really blame me for being this happy?"

"Stranger things have happened," Ryuu replied, walking outside of the school building, and down towards the Slifer Red dorm, Kirito quickly yanking on his arm, almost making him fall. "Any more of that, and I'll be sure to not hit you so lightly!" he shouted angrily.

"_That was being _light_?"_ Aono asked inside his head, looking at the obvious use of force as he looked at Kirito.

"Since this is the first time we've been together in a long time, I thought we could spend some time at the Obelisk dorm for a while so we can catch up," Kirito said, blushing slightly from his own selfish ideas, Aono's eyes focusing on him instantly. "Even if it's just for a little while, I thought we could just hand out, and be friends like we used to be. So what do you guys say?" he asked, Aono being the first to walk away, surprising both Ryuu and Kirito.

"I'm out," he said. "You of all people should know that I would never step foot in that place. You have no idea how angry I was when you went over to that place, and without Ryuu there, you try and tell me we were all better off being that far apart from each other. Besides, even if you aren't like the others, I know the mentality of other Obelisk's. If you aren't wearing the same color then you're not even close to be considered human. How do you think they're going to treat Ryuu when he gets there?"

"If that's your only reason for me not going, then I have no reason not to," Ryuu said, both of them surprised he was actually siding with Kirito. "If I get made fun of for not being on that same level as them, then it's their problem to not accept others for who they are. I'm not going to pretend to be perfect or blameless in all of this, but not being able to take hardship in that kind of situation only proves that you think the same way they do. If you get hurt by their words, even if by a little bit then part of you believes what they're saying. Besides," he started, quickly grabbing onto the collar of Aono's jacket. "If I go down, you go down with me," he said, his voice much more sinister as he began dragging him along the grass towards the Obelisk dorm, Kirito leading the way.

"Are you really okay with being looked down upon like that, though?" Aono asked, finally conceding and walking with them.

"I figure if they say I've hurt anybody by leaving, they can be right in some respects," Ryuu answered, looking forward at the blue castle towers with Kirito way out ahead of them, oblivious to their conversation. "I won't deny anything if it's true, and if I do get told off for something I actually did then it's my cross to bear. I don't need either of you coming to my rescue."

"Like that'll stop Kirito," Aono said. "He would jump in front of bullets if it meant helping one of his friends, and he considers you his best friend."

"I've done nothing to make him think that way," Ryuu said, walking out in front of Aono, almost next to Kirito but quite a ways back.

"_So this is really where we stand, huh?"_ Aono said, looking out in front of him with Ryuu directly in front and Kirito a bit more of a ways out. _"We grew apart by this much. Ryuu tried to get rid of the duelist inside of himself for the past year, but now he's already obviously stronger than me, and Kirito was always able to surpass me. I guess when it comes to our roles, all I can do is just try to lead them. I doubt if I could beat either of them as I am now. Kirito just completely changed when Ryuu left, but I always felt there was something else behind his power. He wasn't always as cheery and uppity as he is now, and when he first came here, I could tell he was conflicted. Ryuu helped him with that by just being there for him. If you think you haven't done anything for him, Ryuu, you've got another thing coming, definitely."_

* * *

The inside of the Obelisk dorm was as extravagant and lavish as the outside was, almost making it appear as though it were bigger on the inside, two spiral staircases leading to the actually living quarters, every surface expertly polished, and all the students as refined as though they were at a formal party. Neither Ryuu nor Aono felt in their element and as some of the students passed by them, Aono's nerves almost got the better of him, noticing the looks they were both receiving, and then the ones that Kirito was getting for bringing them into the building. Kirito didn't seem to notice, and called his friends to the staircase, Aono taking a bit of a longer stride, Ryuu not changing his speed, one of the other students sweeping his foot out from underneath him, the only thing being heard was a loud slam against the polished hardwood floor.

"Ryuu! Are you okay!?" Kirito asked, running up to him, almost every student watching him in shock as Kirito helped pull him up to standing position. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No," Ryuu said, looking back, the student who tripped him obviously trying to act innocent. "You go up, I'll be there in a second," he said, Kirito nodding as he ran up to where Aono was, both of them walking away, Ryuu suddenly turning to the group of Obelisk students, walking towards the one who was looking away from the scene. "Explain."

"You should know your place," he said, Ryuu taking another step forward. "A person like you should just go back to your outhouse of a dorm, and stay in there with the insects that crawl around those floors," he said, turning around, but finding Ryuu directly in front of him, barely inches from his face, lifting his eyebrow questioningly. "What? Do you think I'm wrong about you all in that dorm there?"

"Then what about Kirito?" Ryuu asked, the student trying to find a way to answer. "He helped me, and yet you said nothing. Is it because he's merely wearing the same uniform as you?"

"Why does it matter to you?" the student asked, but was quickly launched from his place, Ryuu's fist occupying the space.

"It matters to me because he's my friend," Ryuu said, beginning to walk away. "The next time any of you decide to look at him like that to help his friend, remember that I couldn't care less about what you think of me. But you try to disrespect him or Aono, and I'll come after you. That's my promise," he said, walking up the marble staircase, meeting up with both of his friends at the top, neither of them aware of what he had just done.

* * *

Entering Kirito's room, both Aono and Ryuu were suddenly placed in a state of shock, seeing that the overall floor area was at least as big as four rooms in the Slifer Red dorm, making them both look at each other in surprise as Kirito pulled out a couple chairs for them. As they both sat down, Ryuu backwards in his seat, leaning over the back of the chair, Aono looked around the room, seeing it nothing more than an incredibly large version of the other kinds of rooms in the other dorms.

"Well, I guess you could say you've done well for yourself," he said. "Although, I have to say it must be a trek to get some water," he said with a chuckle, obviously uncomfortable with his surroundings. "Still, though, at least they're treating you right here."

"I guess you could say that, but I really don't get to talk much to other people," Kirito admitted. "I like to duel a lot, but nobody ever wants to duel me because of how fast I was able to get here from Ra Yellow last year."

"How long did it take you?" Ryuu asked.

"I was given a recommendation five months after school started," Kirito answered. "After that, people wanted to see if I was actually any good, so I got to duel a lot for the first few months after. But after that, people stopped challenging me, and I had to start doing it by official paperwork dueling. It got really boring to fill it out all the time, so I didn't get to duel so much. But now that I got both of my friends back, we can duel whenever we want to, right?" he asked, Ryuu letting out a deep sigh. "What?"

"You know that I don't duel all that often," Ryuu said, Kirito's expression beginning to dim at his answer. "I only dueled with Aono on a whim."

"I wouldn't so much call it a whim as your attraction to my magnetic personality," Aono said with a light chuckle, Ryuu quickly backhanding him in the gut. "Pain…"

"If you could duel with Aono, why not me?" Kirito asked, Ryuu backing away to try to find a way to answer him, a series of footsteps suddenly heard approaching Kirito's door. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking at the three men I the door, one of them being the one who tripped Ryuu, and got in thrown right back at him, the other were obviously security guards.

"We are here to extract Ryuunosuke Akahoshi from the premises," the security guards said. "Charges have been laid against him by one of the students who say he attacked him without cause. We have no choice but to have him removed from the premises, and he will have to sign a waiver so that he will not be able to enter the building for the next few months."

"No! He's my friend, isn't there anything you can do?" Kirito said in protest, Ryuu about to walk out with the security guard, Aono looking at Kirito, seeing his arms trembling while having to watch Ryuu leave the building. "Ryuu! Why don't you say something?"

"Because I did hit him," Ryuu said. "He was badmouthing me so I hit him," he lied, not wanting Kirito to know the real reason. "It's just how the world works. It's going to be his word over my own, so there's no point in trying to fight these guys on the subject. Guess I'll see you around then, huh, guys?" he said, waving to them as Kirito practically ran after both of them.

"Please don't make him go!" Kirito shouted, latching onto Ryuu's ankle. "Ryuu, why don't you just apologize and you can keep coming here to see me, and so can Aono too. I just want to be friends again like we were last year," he said, Ryuu stopping as the guards tried to push him forward. "Why don't you just say you're sorry?"

"He did something that was unforgiveable," Ryuu said, no change in his emotions; he was completely calm, unwavering, but Kirito could see that there was something different about him. "Trust me, it's better that I leave. You won't have to suffer for being friends with me again. Nobody in this place would ever take you seriously as an Obelisk student if you were friends with me. That's the way this school works; they shower people like you with praise because you're smarter, or got lucky. But people where I live, you have no idea what it would be like to have that kind of pressure on us."

"Then duel me…," Kirito said, Ryuu looking down at him. "Right now, I want you to duel me, no matter what, and even if you say no, I want you to know that it doesn't matter to me whether you're an Obelisk or a Slifer; I'll always want to be your friend," he said with a large smile, standing up. "If you duel me, then you can show me what kind of pressure is put on Slifer students so I can understand, and then I won't be such a bother to you. All I want to do is be your friend, and if it means I have to change myself to do it, then I would."

"You're an idiot," Ryuu said, lightly hitting Kirito on the top of the head. "But then again, idiots like you usually make the best friends," he said with a light chuckle, looking over at Aono, the Ra student finally comfortable with his surroundings, his smirk as wide as ever, and his stance as cocky as it always had been. "What do you think, Aono?"

"We'll consider this your hazing, then," Aono said. "We'll be using the Obelisk's indoor dueling arena in the basement lounge of this dorm," he told the security guards, both of them taken aback by the authority Aono exuded. "After that, we'll need to make this an official match between Kirito Yanagisawa and Ryuunosuke Akahoshi with the stipulation that the winner decides what will happen to the restraining order, so to speak. If you have a problem with that, the only logical thing to do would be telling the headmaster why a conflict between students was not settled with a duel, and I really would hate to lose my job over something as simple as this."

"_I forgot how authoritative you could be, Aono,"_ Ryuu said, reaching into his bag with his duel disk, his duel box on his belt almost quivering as he grabbed it and placed it in the slot. "You ready to do this, then, Kirito?" he asked, looking at his old classmate with surprise, seeing his upbeat personality gone, and instead an incredibly calm person took his place.

"Let's have some fun," he said, holding up his duel disk as though to activate it, the student that tried to turn Ryuu on growling out of anger as both duelists made their way into the underground dueling arena in the Obelisk's basement area.

* * *

As the lights switched on, and the power activated, the entire downstairs lounge of the Obelisk dorm was nothing more than a smaller version of the main dueling platform in the major school building. Walking in first, Kirito made his way to the far side of the arena, Ryuu still surprised by the overall size that arena took up, at least half of the Obelisk students in the dorm coming down to line the borders of the battlefield, Aono among them, pushing his way through a large group of them, standing directly in the center of the borderline.

"You ready for this, Ryuu?" Kirito asked, his voice and composure so much more laidback as opposed to who he was in the near past. "I can't promise that I'll go easy on you, but I don't want you to go easy on me either because we're friends."

"Don't show me any pity," Ryuu said while activating his duel disk. "Treat me as you would any opponent, that way I can see if you actually made any improvement from when I saw you last," he said, both of them staring at each other for a few seconds. "DUEL!" they both declared, their life point counters both totaling at 4000 for the start of the duel. "I'll go first!" Ryuu said, drawing his card from the deck. "I summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight (1300/1000) in attack mode!" he declared, a young knight with long blond hair covering part of his face, and a long segmented whip came out of the card, cracking the whip once as part of his entrance. "After that, I'll place one card face-down on the field and end my turn."

"So this is the kind of deck you use," Kirito said, drawing a card form the top of his deck. "I'm glad I finally got to see it, but all good things must come to an end. I summon Genex Controller (1400/1200) in attack mode as well!" he declared, a small rusted machine with an antiquated video game console controller coming out of the giant picture with it, buzzing slightly with a light twitching in its neck joint. "And then I plat the magic card Hand Destruction!" he declared, Ryuu looking at him surprised. "With this card, both players discard two cards from their hand, and then draw two more as a result," he explained, Ryuu grunting as he discarded a monster and trap card in his hand, Kirito sending a monster and spell to the graveyard, both of them then drawing their next two cards.

"_If Kirito is actually worthy of being called an Obelisk Blue student, he discarded his own cards for a reason,"_ Ryuu said to himself, Kirito looking at the two cards he just drew, chuckling to himself as he held up one of them.

"I activate the magic card Machine Assembly Line!" he declared, three giant bins appearing behind him, all having a conveyer belt, compactor, or some other kind of factorial device. "With this card, all machine monsters on the field gain two hundred attack points," he explained, Genex Controller's attack rising from 1400-1600. "And now, I attack with Genex Controller on Fulhelmknight; attack with Spark Burst!" he shouted, the tip of the antenna on the monsters head beginning to spark with electricity, eventually sending out a large burst of electrical power at Ryuu's monster.

"I activate the ability of Fulhelmknight!" he shouted, the small knight quickly jumping into the air, and sending its whip directly down at the burst of lightning, the sudden discharge of electricity instantly ceasing as though it never happened. "Once per turn, I can automatically negate an attack made by my opponent."

"Interesting," Kirito said. "I play a card face-down, and then I end my turn."

"Then it's my move, draw!" Ryuu declared, drawing his next card, looking up at Kirito's monster; small, but still able to defeat his. "I activate my face down card; At One with the Sword!" he declared, a shining light appearing out of the card's picture, surrounding the whip that Fulhelmknight carried, the edges eventually meeting up and straightening out into an actual sword. "With this card, one of my X-Saber monsters gains an extra eight hundred attack, and whenever it destroys a monster, I can also draw a card. Now, Fulhelmknight, attack with Bladed Barrage!" he shouted, the young knight quickly rushing into the center of the battlefield, its attack increasing from 1300-2100, and threw the sword in its hand, the different segments disconnecting and attacking like shrapnel down on Kirito's monster.

"I play my face-down card, Trap Stun!" Kirito declared, Ryuu's eyes widening out of shock. "As it says, this card automatically negates the effects of all trap cards out on the field, minus its own, so your extra attack had no value whatsoever," he said, the attack power of the strike instantly, back down to 1300, the lightning surrounding the very tip of the antenna on the Controllers head sending them right back to where it came from, Ryuu's monster unable to defend against it.

As the sword fragments impacted with Fulhelmknight, the monster was quickly destroyed, the dust moving past Ryuu as he braced for the impact, his life points dropping from 4000-3700. "I'll play two cards face-down to end my turn," he said disdainfully, Kirito smiling as he drew his next card. _"I honestly didn't expect him to be so much more powerful; it's as if I'm just a sitting duck to him."_

"With Genex controller on the field, I'll summon the level five Genex Furnace (2000/1300) to the field in attack mode!" Kirito declared, Ryuu looking at him surprised again as a giant metal furnace shaped robot stood on the field, its cover opening and closing with roaring flames seeping out with each movement. "Now I'll attack you directly with Genex Furnace!" he declared, Ryuu gritting his teeth as the large robot opened up its own cover again, this time the fire within it shooting out towards him, the attack of the monster increasing due to Kirito's magic card, increasing its attack from 2000-2200.

"I activate my face-down card!" Ryuu shouted in return, a familiar picture for Aono showing up. "Reinforce Truth! When this card is activated, I can summon a warrior type monster from my deck level two or lower. I summon X-Saber Pashuul (100/0) in defense mode!" he declared, the wild haired warrior with the shield broadsword smashing into the battlefield, blocking the attack with no damage done to either Ryuu or itself.

"While in defense mode, Pashuul can't be destroyed by battle," Kirito said, already knowing the card's ability. "But at the same time, during your own end phase, you'll take one thousand points of damage," he said, placing another card face-down card. "I'll end my turn."

"Then I'll go, draw!" Ryuu declared, looking at his field. "I activate the magic card The Warrior Returning Alive!" he declared. "With this card, I can bring back one warrior type monster from my graveyard, and place it back into my hand!" he explained, taking back his Fulhelmknight card. "And now I'll summon my Fulhelmknight back to the field in attack mode!" he declared, the young knight taking its place on the field once more. "Now I activate my face-down card, Enemy Controller!" he declared. "With this card, I can either change the battle position of one monster on the field, or I can take control of it by sacrificing one of my monsters," he said, Pashuul suddenly disappearing in a blinding light, replaced by a giant video game controller.

From the controller, a series of black input wires shot out, connecting themselves with the giant furnace under Kirito's control, quickly pulling to over to Ryuu's side of the field, Kirito grinning at the strategy Ryuu had pulled off.

"And now we'll give you a taste of your own medicine, I attack Genex Controller with Genex Furnace!" he shouted, the giant furnace robot once again opened up the caged door to the coal burning inside of it, a constant stream of fire travelling towards the small, rusted robot.

"Sorry, Ryuu," Kirito said. "I play my face-down card, Mirror Force!" he declared, a giant reflective barrier surrounding all of Kirito's side of the field, the fire stream impacting with it and then splaying out in all directions after hitting it. "With this card, when an opponent attacks, I can negate the attack, and then destroy all monsters on my opponent's side of the field that are in attack position!" he declared, Ryuu taking a step back as the fire streams splayed out curved backwards, destroying both the furnace that Ryuu took control of, and also his knight monster for the second time.

"I end my turn," Ryuu said, no cards on his field, Kirito still left with a monster on the field, and his hand ready to do much more battle.

"My turn, draw!" Kirito declared. "I activate the magic card Card Destruction!" he declared, a grin on his face as he already knew that Ryuu knew the effect of the card he used. "With this card, we both discard our hands, and then draw the same number of cards that were already in it," he explained, discarding all three of his cards, and drawing the same amount directly afterwards, Ryuu gritting his teeth as he did for the same amount of cards. "Now I'll attack you directly with Genex Controller! Spark Burst!" he shouted, the small robot monster sending out another blast of electrical power, this one impacting directly with Ryuu, dropping his life points from 3700-2100, Kirito still left with a full 4000. "Your move."

"Then I draw!" Ryuu said, taking a look at his new card. "I summon the XX-Saber Gardestrike (2100/1400) in attack mode!" he shouted as his large feline warrior jumped out of the card, wildly roaring to the skies as it showed off the size of its blade. "And now I'll attack your Genex Controller with Savage Frenzy!" he shouted, Gardestrike letting out another wild yowling sound while running directly at the small robot, running directly at it, making a single slash with its arm blade, destroying it instantly, taking a five hundred point chunk out of Kirito's life points, dropping them from 4000-3500. "And with that, I'll end my turn. Come on and show me what you can do, then."

"I will," Kirito said, quickly causing Ryuu to worry about what he just said. "I activate the second effect of Machine Assembly Line!" he declared, Ryuu able to see into one of the metal compactors, both of Kirito's destroyed monsters rolling around with their parts mashed together. "With each machine monster destroyed from the field, I gain two Junk Counters on my Assembly Line, and after I sacrifice it, I can summon a monster from my graveyard that has a level equal to the number of Junk Counters on the card. And with four counters, I can summon a monster directly from my graveyard that I got rid of a long time ago."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Ryuu asked.

"When I played Hand Destruction at the beginning of the game, I placed him in the graveyard o to be used at another time, and now I can bring him back without having my game suffer too much for it," Kirito explained, the assembly line behind him beginning to sink back into the ground, but with a single card coming out from the graveyard area in exchange. "I summon Genex Ally Volcannon (1700/600) in attack mode!" he declared, a red robot coming out from the graveyard area, giant cannon on its right shoulder, and a small furnace on its back.

"What now?" Ryuu asked as Kirito chuckled.

"I also summon another Genex Controller in defense mode and then I'll end my turn by playing two face-down cards," Kirito declared, something not seeming quite right to Ryuu, noticing how aggressive Kirito was up until now, but now it seemed like he was holding back, or he was waiting for something.

"_He spent all that time, even sacrificing his own monsters in order to pull of the final effect of that spell card," _Ryuu noticed, looking at the volcanic warrior, its cannon pointed as though it were ready to fire within a moment's notice. _"That card has to be the key to his victory, but there are problems in forcing so much expectation into a single kind of card being played. If that card is lost you either have to come up with an entirely new strategy within seconds, or give up the duel with the knowledge you put too much faith into a single part of your deck. Then again, Kirito may be smarter than that, and have defenses set up so he doesn't lose his card. Those face-down cards are either actual barriers or hopeful bluffs. But how do I go about beating him if he already has so much to go off of,"_ he said, drawing the next card from his deck. _"Boggart Knight, huh?"_ he noticed. _"The average attack erasing card can stop, at most, one attack, if I have two monsters on the field capable of beating him, then it doubles my chances of taking care of his key card."_

"You ready to go, Ryuu?" Kirito asked, Aono watching from the sidelines, looking at the confident smile Kirito had and the massively thinking expression that Ryuu had on, sighing.

"_This is how I lost to you, Ryuu,"_ Aono said to himself, looking back at Kirito. _"I became too fixated on making my strategy too complicated, counting on specific cards instead of what life dealt me. And now you have to do the same, otherwise you won't be able to win against him."_

"I summon XX-Saber Boggart Knight (1900/1000) in attack mode!" he shouted, Kirito looking at him surprised as the devilish figure appeared with his horned helmet and sharpened blade at his side. "And by his effect, I also summon X-Saber Airbellum (1600/200) to the field in attack mode!" he declared, the wild warrior with its three clawed arms roaring as it pointed its claws threateningly, a smirk coming across Aono's face.

"_That's the way."_

"Now, I attack your Volcannon with Gardestrike!" Ryuu suddenly declared, Kirito gritting his teeth as he looked at both of his face-downs, looking up and saw his machine get destroyed as quickly as it was brought back to the field, his life points decreasing from 3500-3100. "Next I attack Genex Controller with Boggart Knight!" Ryuu declared, the other students all questioning his choice as the snickering warrior disappeared into the wind, suddenly slashing through the small robot's body as though he had never moved. "Now I'll attack you directly with Airbellum!" he declared, Aono nodding in approval as the beast monster ran up in front of Kirito, slashing directly against him, dropping his life points from 3100-1500.

The other students were in a state of shock at how low their classmate had his life points dropped by, all whispering to each other, Aono barely listening but instantly perked up into the conversation with a certain bit of information passing by him, his entire mind completely focused on every word being said as though they were flashing in front of like in writing.

"And now Airbellum's effect activates, and because it attacked you directly this turn, you must discard one card from your hand!" Ryuu declared, Kirito making a sharp inhale as he placed his only card into the graveyard, looking up at his friend with all of his monsters, and him with only two face-down cards. "I end my turn," he said, Kirito not drawing his card immediately, but instead looked directly at Ryuu.

"Ryuu, let me ask you," Kirito started, Ryuu looking up. "Why did you hit that other student?" he suddenly asked, both Ryuu and the student in question flinching slightly. "I know you too well to know you wouldn't do it without a good reason. Your training as part of kendo doesn't allow for that kind of act of violence. Please be honest with me about it, I'm begging you about it," he said, Ryuu clenching his fist as he looked down towards the ground.

"I told you he did something that was unforgiveable, and I can't ever let something like that go," Ryuu answered, Kirito looking at him confused. "There are things that some people may need to know, but in this case, you and Aono don't need to know why I did what I did."

"People are always obsessed with why, though, aren't they?" Aono said from the sidelines. "Without asking why, people can't learn about anything, or understand it for themselves. I told you earlier that us growing apart was what caused us each to become who we are, and it's by sticking together that we're going to be able to stay that way," he said, looking over at Kirito. "How about if you win, Kirito, you make Ryuu tell you why he did it?" he suggested, Kirito suddenly looking over at Ryuu, a fire ignited in his eyes as he drew his next card, looking at it with a smirk which slowly tuned back into a gentle smile.

"I activate my face-down card, Cyber Summon Blaster!" he declared, a giant radio dish on a series of caterpillar treads taking the field, pointed directly at Ryuu. "Whenever a machine type monster is special summoned, I inflict three hundred points of damage to my opponent, and now I activate the magic card Monster Reborn!" he shouted, Ryuu's eyes suddenly going into extreme shock, seeing the only card in his hand as the one he truly would need. "With it, I summon from graveyard, Genex Ally Volcannon back in attack mode!" he commanded, the armed warrior coming back on the field, all three monsters on Ryuu's field taking a battle stance. "Now I activate my final face-down card Call of the Haunted!" he shouted.

"_No!"_ Ryuu yelled in his mind.

"Just like monster reborn, this card allows me to summon one monster from my graveyard, and I choose my Genex Furnace!" he declared, the giant furnace robot coming back onto the field, some of its flames spilling out while the door to its coal was still closed. "And now since I summoned two monster as part of a special summon, I can inflict six hundred points of damage straight to you, Ryuu!" he explained, a large electrical discharge forming in the center of the radio dish, expanding outward into a sonic wave towards Ryuu, forcing him back a little bit as his life points decreased from 2100-1500.

"That all you got?" Ryuu asked, almost forcing Kirito to play his next move.

"Not quite," he answered. "By the effect of Genex Ally Volcannon, I can sacrifice one fire monster on my side of the field to destroy a monster on yours!" he declared, his Genex Furnace slowly disappearing into a series of glittering lights, loading itself into the furnace on Volcannon's back, the result being a magma filled shot being blasted towards Ryuu's side of the field, covering his Gardestrike in the molten magma, destroying the monster instantly. "And as part of his effect, my opponent takes damage equal to the number of stars of the monster that was destroyed times four hundred," he said as Ryuu looked at him in utter shock.

"Gardestrike was a five star monster," Ryuu noticed. "So that means…"

"Two thousand points of damage," Kirito said calmly as the points were directly taken away from Ryuu, his total dropping from 1500 straight down to 0, all of the monsters not destroyed simply vanishing into thin air, Ryuu falling to the ground at the sudden revelation of his loss. "Ryuu? Are you okay?" Kirito asked, not sure if the loss affected him that much.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Ryuu suddenly shouted out. "Man, that was the best ever!" he said. "And here I thought I actually had a shot of beating you. Dang, did you play me for a sucker!" he said, bursting out into full laughter as Kirito looked at him surprised but soon followed after him along with Aono as the three just continually laughed about the whole thing.

"So, Kirito, are you going to ask him?" Aono said, Kirito barely able to stop himself from laughing so hard, but managed to calm down after a minute or so.

"No," he answered. "He said he did it because it was for something unforgiveable, and even if he can't talk about it, I don't think I need to know then," he said, Aono smirking, but looked over at the student that made the claim, seeing him walk out of the arena, Ryuu standing up, and dusting himself off. "Besides, I finally got to duel against my best friend, and it was the most fun I've ever had," he said, the whispering in the background becoming more distinct to hear now that duel had ended.

The only thing Ryuu could hear was, "I can't believe he came that close to winning against Kirito." Looking back at Kirito, the Obelisk student was already walking away from the arena, waving back at the other students as they began clapping for the duel, but Ryuu looked directly at Aono, the Ra student smirking as he began to walk in the same direction.

"During the duel when you made that last assault on Kirito, the others were talking about how they'd never seen his life points so low," Aono said. "Since he started dueling as part of the Obelisk Blue selection tests, he's never had his life points drop below three thousand, and here and now, it was a Slifer Red student who cut that number right down the middle. Good job today, man," he said, bumping his chest lightly as he walked away from the arena, Ryuu left alone as he looked at the last card in his hand…Heavy Storm, a smirk on his face.

* * *

Still walking through the hall angrily, the Obelisk student attacked by Ryuu kept cursing and stomping around the hallway as another student passed by him, a light chuckle passing her lips as she did. Almost instantly, the male Obelisk student quickly passed out, the girl looking back at him as she looked back down with Kirito walking out of the arena, Ryuu and Aono behind them with the other students all congratulating either of them.

"Such interesting little playmates," she said with a light chuckle while walking back the other way through the hallway. "I must find a way to get to play with them."

Back down in the main hall, Ryuu began to walk ahead, both Aono and Kirito jumping at him, their arms locking over his shoulders, bringing their fist into the center of them all, Ryuu only able to smirk and comply.

"We're back together again!" Kirito yelled excitedly as they threw their fists into the air. And with that, a trio formed twice became real, but there were so many things that Ryuu had yet to have explained. Why was that student so quick to make a snap judgment on him? Why did Kirito change so much during their duel? Why was he having that kind of dream that he had a while ago? And why did he always find himself dueling even if it was the one thing he didn't want to do as religiously? It looked like Aono was right, after all, why is the only question we can become obsessed with.

* * *

Characters:

Ryuunosuke "Ryuu" Akahoshi (X-Saber Deck): NightFall00

Aono Ryugu (Lightsworn Deck): Jexo

Kirito Yanagisawa (Genex Deck): JJun

* * *

Chapter two complete. Again, feeling really good that I was able to get this out much faster than I have for some of my stories in the past, but hopefully you're all enjoying this one, all the same. I know this one isn't as popular as my others because it's not the same fan-base of mine, but it's nice to have these two on board with me. Again Jexo is a person I've been having with me for a fairly long time, and JJun has been a reader of mine for a few months, and I'm only now finally getting to use one of his awesome characters. So, these three are the essential trio of this story, much like how it was Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley in the original GX anime; in my opinion, one of the only ones that I find acceptable in English. The original Yu-Gi-Oh was good in English and GX was fine, but I didn't even bother with 5Ds, and Zexal is just…no. So this time, as you can see, Ryuu is very human when it comes to dueling, win some lose some, and I wanted to make that a very central theme here. Ryuu is not supposed to be a very special, overwhelming person, and just a decent duelist, and really, the powerhouse falls on the innocent and gentle Kirito. Let me know what you think of the trio, and I can't wait to see you guys next time. Also, I still have one spot available for my OCs, so if you are a new reader, a reader who's just now seen I'm serious about this story, or if you just want to try, go for it. It's going to be a for a Ra Yellow female student, so have fun.


End file.
